


Hidden in the Leaves

by grassyhyuuga



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Death, Character Study, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Gen, Hyuuga Clan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2017-12-10 14:10:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grassyhyuuga/pseuds/grassyhyuuga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles, mostly character studies, set generally in the "founders" era.</p><p><i>Chapter 13 - some strange spirit of fire</i><br/>"A fire burns those closest to it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Suspended Disbelief (Tobirama)

**Author's Note:**

> These drabbles are in preparation for a much longer fic that I'm currently planning.

He can understand where the rumours of his heart being made of ice — no, stone, because ice _melts_ — came from.

Tobirama is standing at his brother's funeral, and he has yet to shed a single tear. He avoids looking at his sister-in-law, at anyone. It's inappropriately sunny, and, usually, he would appreciate the irony.

Not today.

Once again, Hashirama has performed one of his typical deeds of selflessness by selfishly dying.

It is an odd mixture of guilt and anger that keeps him from grieving.

(No matter how brutally he tramples his hopes, he still expects the man to land in the midst of black-clad mourners in a shower of leaves.)


	2. In The Back (Hashirama, Madara)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Hashirama.

All throughout the battle, he has never shied away from meeting Madara's eyes. A wavering gaze is an obvious sign of weakness, and he cannot afford to even appear weak. Half, if not more, of warfare is psychological.

Instead of looking _into_ his eyes, however, he looks through them, beyond them, into peaceful futures of unborn children.

Hashirama knows if he imagines even a splinter of anything redeemable he would be lost.

So he stabs him from behind and does not see blood-red eyes come alive.

He leaves without checking for a pulse, head bowed with the weight of duty.


	3. Haunted (Tobirama)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned out... a lot darker than anything I'd expected to write.

A child patters after Tobirama, the squeak of small sandals soundless to all but him.

For as long as he can remember, this child has followed him everywhere. When he goes to bed, the child sits, cross-legged, at his feet.

The child never speaks, but the accusations in its eyes are enough. Sometimes, it wears Itama's face. Those days are the worst. Over the years, he has lost count of its many masks.

( _Homura Kawamara Hiruzen Tsunade Koharu_ )

He keeps almost no secrets from his brother except this one — how can one claim to be sane and haunted at the same time?

He never marries.


	4. (Un)truths (Tobirama)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not so keen on this one.

Tobirama has stated repeatedly that he does _not_ have anything in particular against the Uchiha.

(He lies. They bother him more than other potentially mutinous clans.)

There is just something off about a clan that seems to value power above all else.

(He knows but will never admit that the Senju are much the same.)

Their eyes are eerie and filled with dangerous fire.

(He conveniently ignores the colour of his own eyes.)

The way they operate with blind passion is disgraceful for a clan that prides itself on its sight.

(He will never admit that he is, in a way, envious.)

 


	5. The History of Fire (Hashirama, Mito)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took the liberty of creating a random Japanese name for Mito's cousin. Since Mito is probably taken from the name of a prefecture capital in Japan, I chose one that sounded vaguely like a name from a list of capital cities. (Hopefully it doesn't translate into something odd.)

If Hashirama is a bonfire, bright, attractive, and larger-than-life, then Mito is slow-burning embers.

He had been pledged to her cousin. She had been sent as an accompanying attendant on Naha's first trip to the Senju stronghold. In truth, the role she fulfilled was more bodyguard than maid, not that Naha _needed_ a maid. (There is no such thing as a spoiled Uzumaki.)

If Hashirama warms, then Mito ignites.

"May I speak with my betrothed?"

"It is midnight."

She pins him with dark, smouldering eyes and they are lost. Cousin Naha is prettier, her body more delicate and her features finer, but it is not fiery _hair_ that he wants.

If Hashirama goes out in a tempest of flames, then Mito endures, until the last of the coals of duty lose their glow and crumble to ashes.


	6. Nomenclature (Team Tobirama)

_Team Tobirama._

He hates that name.

Homura is burnished steel, refined by fire and polished by a sharp wit. Behind those glasses is a paradoxical alloy of hard will and brittle insecurites, unyielding to the end.

Koharu is selfless, though she hides this supposed weakness with a cutting tongue and razor-fast reflexes. She sees more than the others combined.

Hiruzen is their torch, and every one of them follows him whether knowing or unknowingly.

They all love the village, but they are not _him_.

They are better. (So he hopes.)


	7. Soiled (Hyuuga Clan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neji is my favourite character, so this was coming sooner or later. Clan politics will definitely play a role in the fic that I'm planning, so this was an exploration into that.

Out of all the clans in Konoha, the Hyuuga are the most uncommunicative.

Their eyes are cloudy to the most perceptive, opaque milk to the unobservant. The sharp angles of their features speak of nothing but noble breeding and fleeting childhoods. Their postures boast of thick blood and thin limbs and hours upon hours of grueling training, both mental and physical. Their accent, with its deliberate lilt and archaic tones, reinforces an ancient sense of superiority.

Yet that is all they reveal. Their garb and fighting style are white and pure in the eyes of the outside world.

Behind the pale veil nothing is pure except, perhaps, their blood, and even that bleeds true and red. Those with unmarked foreheads live lives of guilt and fear and self-denial. Those with marked foreheads know nothing except bitter resignation and angry fate.

Only Hyuuga eyes can see the sordidness of it all.


	8. Above and Beyond (Tobirama, Madara, Hashirama)

"Must we resort to such measures?" The words rang in the spacious room, meant to hold twenty but currently only occupied by three.

Hashirama's face was creased like a piece of discarded laundry. "I thought we were done with 'unprovoked attacks'." For him, the phrase was nothing less than a synonym for 'war'.

"Yes." They spoke at the same time.

He spared his brother a brief glance of sympathy. Such realities didn't fit into his view of the world. If his dream for the future was a round hole, then the practicalities of achieving it was a square peg.

"It would hardly be unprovoked. They have made their stance _quite_ clear." The Uchiha's voice lowered to a gentler timbre. "If we do not take action, they will remain a threat to the village."

Tobirama picked up the thread and weaved it into his own argument. "We do not seek war, only to drive away uncooperative neighbours." Leaning forward, he spoke with finality. "Casualties on _both_ sides will be kept to a minimum."

As they left the room, he nodded at Madara, in thanks for his support and thoughtful handling of his brother.

While he didn't like the other man — the supercilious tilt of his chin, the burning talent swimming in those eyes, the air of secrecy he wore like a robe — he respected his readiness to do what is necessary to reach a goal.

 

(Years later, Tobirama witnesses just how far how far he is willing to go.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can see Tobirama and Madara being allies at times in the council room. They are the only two who understand Hashirama well enough to sway his mind.


	9. Will of Fire (Tobirama)

There is a glint in the eyes of the assembled shinobi. He recognises it, because the same, almost fanatical, loyalty glazes his own whenever his clan is involved.

As far as he knows, he is not the kind of man to inspire such devotion. It is, in a way, humbling.

Perhaps, just as he saw in them Hashirama's legacy, they saw in him a lick of his fire. Ash clogs his throat, and he blinks.

For the first time since his brother's death, the cloak and hood feel right on his frame, not stolen from a corpse. He fingers the rim of the hat, words fuelled with a warmth usually reserved for family.

"I am honoured to be your Hokage."

The ensuing silence is deafening in its reverence.


	10. Brothers (Tobirama, Hashirama, Itama, Kawarama)

Kawarama and Tobirama had shared the same hair but not the same disposition. His brother had always been braver, dark eyes shining with humour that not even their crippled childhoods had crushed.

He stood, stiller than a tree and rooted to the ground by grief.

Face set in a frown that would last through the decades, he let one brother shed his tears while the other hurled his screams. He will never learn to laugh properly, because Kawamara had always laughed for him.

 

Years later, he is a brother without brothers, and neither tears nor screams come to him as he looks upon Hashirama's corpse.


	11. Late Bloomer (Hashirama, Mito, Keta)

They have a child before they are ready, when war, rather than peace, is a constant of life. 

Keta is such a quiet baby that they find themselves forgetting her for hours before guiltily recalling that they are parents. They meet this as they always have any challenge, head-on, she with stoic determination and he with grim enthusiasm. 

Dark brown hair blooms on their daughter’s head. This disappoints Hashirama. Flowers do not turn toward her touch. This disappoints Mito. Her voice is petal-soft. This disappoints the Senju, who follow nothing less than rooted strength. 

There is no time to wallow in disappointment, however, not after Uchiha Madara offers his hand in cooperation instead of conflict. Senju Keta grows up in the prime of her parents’ distraction and tries very, very hard not to disappoint herself.

It is when war starts again, ironically, that she is remembered. Her father watches her sew a man back to life without hesitation, her chakra jumpstarting his pulse. And when the next man is too broken, his pieces mangled beyond the saving of her nimble fingers, she feels his large hand on her shoulder for a second on the battlefield, smoothing away her helplessness and inadequacy.

“You’ve done well.”

She closes her eyes and allows herself to believe him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A close scrutiny of the timeline reveals that Hashirama and Mito must have had at least two children, one before the founding of Konoha and one after. In keeping with ridiculous Senju naming traditions, Keta means a beam or a column, usually referring to the wooden cross-beams of a roof. 
> 
> Writing this drabble really brought out the hypocrisy of the Senju, who value battle-strength as much as, if not more than, the Uchiha. It must be difficult to be the unexceptional child of exceptional parents, especially one in a powerful clan like the Senju. 
> 
> Oops. I'll stop before the notes get longer than the actual drabble.


	12. Shades (Hashirama, Tobirama)

Most people only see the extremes of Hashirama:

the laughing, absent-minded one, grin so childishly wide you wonder if he can sign his own name,

the ridiculously powerful one, wielding wood like a nymph, the all-or-nothing flint of his eyes as he slaughters an entire army to retrieve his father’s corpse,

the charismatic one, winning peace and hearts with a tilt of his mouth, a whirlwind of speeches and handshakes.

The in-betweens are harder to spot:

the tired one, forehead lined, too worn to be diplomatic with his own children,

the pensive one, quiet, regrets scuttling close to the surface of his skin,

the sly one, all quirked lips and subtle contempt, growing his hair out inch by inch as both fashion statement and "fuck you".

And now:

the dead one, reduced to an anticlimactic pile of ashes, leaving both Konoha and Mito widowed.

  
Still, for all his clarity of vision, Tobirama cannot view his brother’s death in any light but grief. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of these days I will do a proper character study of Hashirama.


	13. some strange spirit of fire (Hashirama, Madara)

 

* * *

  

Hashirama is not as clueless as some perceive him to be.  
  
He is neither blind, deaf, nor stupid, though he paints this careless caricature of himself like he cultivates his forests, with broad strokes and sweeping hands.   
  
Being underestimated is far more desirable than being overestimated.  
  
He sees the corrosive nature of Madara’s discontent. He hears the comments, the whispers, the judgment of the villagers. He understands that, at his core, Madara will never be satisfied with the peace that they’ve built. That, someday, the weight of his ambitions will crush Konohagakure. That, eventually, the leaves of memory preserving their tentative relationship and veiling the village from danger will be charred to ashes.   
  
A fire burns those closest to it.   
  
 _Perhaps I am stupid after all_ , he thinks, approaching this inferno of hatred he calls “friend”, as he prepares to be scorched again. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title taken from "To Those Who've Fail'd", a Walt Whitman poem.


End file.
